BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

 RELATIVE TO OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER INDUSTRIES. 



1655 — Auzout, M. Shiuiug worms iu oysters. <[Philosoj)hical Transactions, Lon- 

 don, May 7, 1665, No. 12, pp. 203-206. 



Withiu over 240 oysters which the writer examined he discovoi-od a .shining substance 

 which, after inspecting with a microscope, he describes as worms; " and these of three 

 sorts; one sort was whitish, having 24 or 25 foot on eacli side, forked, a black speck on one 

 side of the head and tlie back lilce an eel stript of Iier skin; tlie second was red, and 

 resembling the common glowworm, found on land, which folds upon their backs, and feet 

 like the former, and with a nose like that of a dog, and one eye in the head ; the third sort 

 w;is speckled, having a head like that of a seal, with many tufts of whitish hair on the 

 sides of it." 



1668 — Worlidge, J. Systema AgriciilturjB ; being the Mystery of Husbandry Dis- 

 covered and Laid Open. London, 1868. 4°, 278 pp. 

 Describes the uses of oyster shells for agricultural purposes. See 1675. 



1669 — Sprat, Thomas. The history of the generation and ordering of green oysters, 

 coimnouly called Colchester oysters. <^ History of tlie Royal Society. 

 London, 1669. 4-^. 



This, the lirst paper of importance witliin the scope of this bibliography, is so concise 

 aiul interesting that it is here transci-il)fd nearly entire, tlies^i extracts being from pp. 307- 

 309 of tlie third edition, publisheil in London in 1722: " In the >[ontli of May the Oysters 

 cast their Spawn (which the Dredgers call their Spat) ; it is like to a drop of Candle, and 

 al)0\it the bigness of a halfpenny. The Spat cleaves to Stones, old Oyster-shells, pieces of 

 Wood, and sucli like things, at the bottom of the Sea, which they call ' Cultch.' 'Tis 

 probably conjectured, that the Spat in 24 lioTirs begins to have a Shell. In the month of 

 May the Dredgers (by the law of the Admiralty Court) have liberty to catch all manner 

 of Oysters of what size soever. When they have taken them, with a knife they gently 

 raise tlio small brood from the Cultch, and then they throw the Cultch in again, to pre- 

 serve the ground for t!io future, unless they be so newly spat that they can not be safely 

 severed front the Cultch, in that case they are permitted to t.ake the stone or shell, etc., 

 that the Spat is upon, one sliell having many times 20 spats. 



" After the montli of Alay it is Felony to carry away the Cultch, and i)unishable to take 

 any other Oysters, unless it be those of size (that is to say) about the bigness of a half 

 crown piece, or when tlie two shells being shut, a fair shilling will rattle between them. 

 The places where tliese Oystois are chielly catched are called Pont-Burnham, Maiden, 

 and Colnewaters. * * * This Brood and other Oj'sters they carry to Creeks of the Sea 

 at Briukel sea, Mersey, Longno, Fringrego, Wiiienho, Tolesbury, and Salt-coase, and 

 there throw them into tlie Channel, wliich they call tlieir Beds or Layers, where they grow 

 and fatten, and, in 2 or 3 years, the smallest Brood will be Oysters of the size aforesaid. 

 Those Oysters which they would have green, they put into Pits about 3 foot deep, in the 

 Salt-marches, which are overflowed only at Spring-tides, to whicli they have sluices, and let 

 out the Saltwater until it is about IJ foot deep. These Pits from some (xuality in the Soil 

 coiiperating with the heat of the Sun, will become green, and communicate their color to 

 the Oysters that are put into them iu 4 or 5 days, tliougli the^' commonly let them con- 

 tinue there BAVeeks or 2 Months, iu which time they will be of dark green. To prove that 

 the Sun operates in their greening, Tolesbury Pits will green only in Snmmer; but that 

 tlio Earth hath the greater power, Brisklo sea Pits griicn both Winter and Summer; and 

 for further proof, a Pit within a foot of a greening Pit will not green ; and those that did 

 green very ivell, will in time loose their (luality. 



"The Oysters when the tide comes in, lie with hollow shell downwards, and when it goes 

 out they turn on the other side; they remove not from their place unless in cold weather, 



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